Chapter 73: To Be Back
"See that, onee-chan? Yoru’s amazing!" Mizuki said while waving her hands. It’s amazing how adorable she is.
"If I grew up, I’ll be even stronger than Yoru," Taka said proudly causing me to pat his head. "You believe me, right?"
I nodded. "Of course. I really think that Taka can be better than Night."
"Is that so?"
My eyes widened after Night appeared in front of me all sweaty and tired. I can see his abs through his loose judo uniform. ’Why is he talking to me?’ I thought. That’s when Night leaned down to me causing me to move slightly to keep my distance from him. ’What is he doing? Is he going to kiss me again? In front of everybody?’ I forced my eyes shut as I waited for him.
"Onee-chan? Why are you closing your eyes?"
I opened my eyes after Mizuki called me. That’s when I realized that Night only went and got his water that was placed near me. ’I-I closed my eyes! Did anyone see?’ When I looked around, I saw Kenji chuckling while the others are averting their gaze.
’They saw it!’ I want to disappear somewhere they will never see me again! I’m sure Kenji will tease me about this.
"Does onee-chan feel embarrassed in front of Yoru?" Mizuki asked with curiosity in her eyes. How am I going to explain it to this cute child?
"That’s how in love people act. It’s totally normal." Taka said as if he understands it completely.
Hearing a child say it like that makes me feel even more embarrassed. "That’s right. Mizuki and Taka won’t understand it until you two became adults." I don’t know if I can say it like that since I only turned 18 the other month.
After the training, Mizuki and Taka told me to follow Night around because they’re also curious about what their cousin does as if they’re not aware. ’I mean, they’re children so maybe they still don’t know.’
"Aren’t you going to tell me to stop following you?" We arrived in the garden where Mizuki and Taka rushed to the snow and started playing with each other. I only sat on the bench while watching Night stretch wearing only his judo uniform.
"You don’t listen."
"I do listen."
"You don’t."
I rolled my eyes. "Don’t you get frostbite if you stay barefooted on top of the snow for too long?"
"Why do you care?"
I sighed. "Fine. I hope you get frostbites." I only muttered those last words but Night looked at me while catching his breath.
"Did you just wish for me to get frostbite?" He walked toward me and I didn’t know what to do when Night suddenly placed his hands on the bench and cornered me. "Why? You feel nervous being this near me?"
My forehead creased. "What are you doing? You still have an injured hand."
Night showed me his hand. "This? It’s nothing." I saw a grin on his face causing me to feel dumbfounded.
"What? Are you done ignoring me? You’re so moody." Night chuckled catching me off-guard. "D-Did you just laughed at me?"
Night’s still staring at my face with a gentle look on him. ’I feel weird about this.’ I thought as I can feel my heart beating faster.
"Yoru!"
I immediately pushed Night away after I heard a voice coming from somewhere. When I turned my head in the direction of the house, I saw Tomoe walking towards us. ’Oh no. I smell trouble.’
"What are you guys doing?" Tomoe asked as she reached us.
"I-I’ll just go to Mizuki and Taka." Even though I am technically Night’s wife, Tomoe’s still the one he loves. I don’t have a space to intervene with them.
Since it’s getting a lot colder, I told Mizuki and Taka to get inside the house. It’ll be bad for them if they catch a cold. "Does Yoru like Tomoe more than Noelle?" I was dumbfounded after hearing Taka ask that as we enter the living room.
How will I explain it? "Night and Tomoe have a special bond. There’s a special place for Tomoe in Night’s life that I cannot replace." I said but Mizuki and Taka looked like they didn’t understand. ’I’m glad they didn’t. I actually don’t understand what I’m saying either.’ "Anyway, what do you guys wanna do?"
"I want to eat a cake!" Mizuki raised her hand.
"You always want to eat a cake." Taka ruffled Mizuki’s hair. They’re so close, it’s cute. "What about Noelle? What do you want to do?"
I shrugged. "I’ll do what you guys wanna do."
Mizuki giggled. "Then let’s go to Yoru’s room again." Why does she want to keep going to Night’s room? "I want to see Yoru’s paintings again. He used to do painting a lot before, but now he doesn’t." She added. It makes me wonder why, but I know better than anyone else that I shouldn’t be curious about Night. It’s like putting myself in danger.
"He might get mad at us this time," I told them.
"But you’re with us." They said in chorus. ’No! Night will get even madder because it’s me.’ But there’s no way I can tell that to these two.
"If you don’t want that, then why don’t you just ask Yoru to paint for us?"
My forehead creased, even Mizuki was surprised hearing Taka say that. "B-But Yoru doesn’t want to be told to do something," Mizuki said. Indeed, he doesn’t like that even a bit.
Taka shook his head with a smug look. "Don’t you get it? Men like Yoru are smitten when they’re in love." He said as if he already knows the way of an adult man. "He even married Noelle. He’s already contradicting his actions before." Why is this child speaking like this?
I can’t deal with this. "Noelle, there you are." I immediately thanked Himari inside my head after she called my name. "Shiho wanted to spend time with you if that’s fine." She said with a smile, making me look at Mizuki and Taka. "You two, don’t keep on disturbing Noelle."
"Oh, they’re not," I said. "Can they come with us?" This way, these two won’t force me to go to Night’s room anymore and ask him to paint for us.
Himari nodded as he leads the way to Shiho’s room. "You know, onee-chan, Shiho onee-chan is also hard to approach," Mizuki whispered to me while she was holding on to my arm tightly.
"Why is that?"
Mizuki hesitated after Himari looked at us. "It’s because she always looks sad." She whispered. "She used to be happier when she wasn’t blind." Himari’s just smiling even though she can hear what Mizuki was saying. ’So it wasn’t inborn? Shiho’s blindness?’ I thought as we knocked on Shiho’s room and entered after hearing her voice.
"Hello, Shiho," Taka said. ’He’s not calling anyone onee-chan or sister like Mizuki, huh?’
A smile quickly formed on Shiho’s face. "Is that you, Taka?"
"Yes. Mizuki and Noelle’s with me." Taka said he received a bonk on the head from Himari because of that.
Himari looked at Taka with a piercing gaze. "Where’s your honorifics?" She asked causing Taka to hide behind me.
"I-I’m sorry," Taka said. Is he afraid of Himari?
"Hi, Noelle. Please do have a seat."
I sat in front of Shiho while Taka and Mizuki played on the floor with Himari. It’s like Himari’s distracting the children to keep them from disturbing my conversation with Shiho. "Are you alright? Did you have a hard time yesterday?"
"Oh, it was hard preparing for the wedding but I’m fine."
Shiho smiled as I saw her face blush. "I’m talking about the nightly duties you and my brother did." I almost spat my tea after hearing that.
"W-We didn’t."
Shiho’s face reddened even more. "I-I apologize for my assumptions." It became even awkward because of that. However, it soon stopped when Shiho started talking about random things. Like the food she likes and her favorite color. "I just really love having an older sister." She said making me feel welcomed.
"I have also been dreaming to have a younger sister."
With that, I spend the remaining days with Shiho saying that she wanted to know me more. It’s like she’s the one I married, not her older brother.
"I’ll miss you so much," Shiho said as she gave me a hug. ’To be honest I can’t even feel sad because I really want to go home now.’ The fact that I’m calling that place home means how uncomfortable I am in their main house here in Kyoto, Japan. It’s not that I feel uncomfortable with Shiho, it’s because I need to sleep with Night every night. ’That sounds weird.’
"Thank you for accepting me," I whispered to Shiho while I pat her back. "See you again." A smile plastered on Shiho’s face as she holds my hand.
"Please take care of my older brother."
It makes me feel embarrassed that she’s making me say that I’ll be taking care of her brother. "Yeah, leave it to me." As if. Night can take care of himself more than I can take care of him.
With that, I bid goodbye to the others. It looks like Tomoe won’t be coming with us since she’s staying with her family. ’I can’t say how glad I am though.’ "See you again, lady Noelle," Tomoe said as she smiled at Night and hugged him.
When we board the airplane, Night wasn’t saying anything as he sat beside me. I don’t know but I think he’s still ignoring me after all he brought another mattress into our room. ’Yeah, we were forced to sleep in the same room, remember?’ He’s really moody. He talked to me the day after the wedding, but after Tomoe talked to him, he started ignoring me again.
I want to go home and sleep. That’s what I thought.
The moment we arrived in front of the mansion, Kaoru was already waiting outside. "Kaoru?" I called his name as I got off the car. He’s sweating buckets and keeps walking back and forth. "Are you alright?"
Kaoru gulped as his eyes laid on me. "T-There’s something I need to inform the lady."
